Olympic National Park

Entrance to The Olympic National Park is less than a 30-minute drive from Sequim, and was a must-see, must-do event for us while we were there. We made several visits to the park for hikes, scenic drives, and a tour of the Visitors Center. Covering nearly a million acres, the park is home to a vast wilderness and multiple and diverse ecosystems, including glacier-capped mountains, old-growth temperate rain forests, and over 70-miles of wild coastline. I couldn’t ask for better hiking conditions – deep and canopied forests, every shade of green imaginable, oxygen rich air to breathe, pristine waterfalls and streams, and perfect temperatures. I could easily and happily have spent all summer exploring this park.

Our hikes included the Heart O’ the Forest Trail, Boulder Creek on the Elwha river, the Glines Canyon Spillway, Madison Creek Falls, Marymere Falls, and Sol Duc Falls. My good friend Barbara, who came to visit for a couple of days, joined us on the Heart O’ the Forest Trail hike, making it even more special. It had been many years since we last saw one another, and it was so much fun catching up and getting to know each other again.

To wrap up our stay in Sequim, Dan and I visited the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort and spent the afternoon enjoying the pools and taking in the beautiful scenery. The resort offers three mineral hot spring soaking pools and one freshwater pool. The spring water comes from rain and melting snow, which seeps through the cracks in the sedimentary rocks where it mingles with gasses coming from cooling volcanic rocks. The mineralized spring waters then rise to the surface along a larger fissure.

I found it hard to leave when our two weeks came to an end. This is truly one of my favorite parts of the country. 

Port Angeles, Washington

During our two week stay in Sequim we set aside one day to visit the charming town of Port Angeles. Located on the furthest northwest corner of the country, and on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula, Port Angeles is the gateway city of the Olympic National Park, and is a popular destination for the nearly 3.5 million people who visit this area each year. Situated at the center of the 130-mile Olympic Discovery Trail, recreational opportunities abound, including a vast network of trails, mountains, rivers, lakes, rain forests, beaches, and tide pools. You can also take the Coho Ferry to Victoria, Canada from Port Angeles.

We had no particular plan in mind for our visit, other than to walk around, take in the sights, take pictures, and enjoy the blue sky day and pristine weather. The downtown area was a mixture of restaurants, hotels, gift shops, art galleries, bookstores, among many other retail outlets, and throughout the streets were murals, sculptures, and other works of art depicting how Port Angeles today is tied to the past as an outpost in the Pacific Northwest, a former logging town, and home to Native Americans.

While we were admiring a wall of paintings hanging on the outside of a large building, we were lucky enough to meet two local artists who worked out of this building. They invited us inside to show us the many facets of the local talent, and fill us in on some Port Angeles history and lore. Afterwards they recommended a restaurant where we could get a good vegan lunch, which we did! It was an unexpected and serendipitous encounter, and one of the magical things about visiting new places that keep us forever tied to this way of life.